You never can predict what will come out of the ugly yellow building on 10th & Minnesota;
The Loafer Brigade of Sioux Falls suffered a defeat last week, but loafers never are defeated for long. They rise again to advocate for loafing.
In refusing to call a special election next spring on snowgates, the City Council deflected the issue until spring 2014. About 8,500 people had signed petitions hoping an election would be called sooner.
I guess asking the city to save taxpayers thousands of hours cleaning the iceberms from the end of our driveways classifies us as ‘lazy’. I have never looked at snowgates in that way. As I have said in the past it is about being held hostage to the city when it comes to snow removal. Who cares if the streets are plowed in 24 hours if I cannot get out of my driveway? I look at snowgates in simpler form; I am already paying for the service of snow removal, if it cost an extra 25% to do it properly, I say let’s do it. The plows are already out plowing my street, what’s the harm in taking a little longer and pushing a little button? Lazy? This coming from the rag that created ‘Loafer Journalism’
But the council was within its rights. When it comes to initiated measures, state law allows city governments to call a special election or hold the vote at the next regular election. Our next regular election is spring 2014.
I disagree. The initiative was specifically written so that snowgates would go into affect Nov 1, 2013. The next available election slot (without calling a stand alone special election) is this Spring, 2013 with the school district. I don’t think it gets less complicated then that. A majority of the council doesn’t want snowgates. Period. This had nothing to do with whether they work or their cost. And they know it.
And they suspect that some treacherous lawyers will devise a scheme in which a vote never will take place.
Most definately. Remember what I said about the predictability of our city government? Why wait over a year to have an election? Are we going to have more information? Probably not. The council voted against the 2013 election to give them time to crush the petition drive. I stand by those words.
I’m ambivalent on the subject. Sure, I suppose they would be nice if they work as advertised, but do we really need another government service so able-bodied adults don’t have to shovel out the ends of their driveway?
That’s just it, we are not creating a NEW government service, we are just asking to make one we currently have better. Geeesh.
First, the proponents continually reference this $500,000 water feature being built downtown along the river greenway, a glorified bird bath that certainly will win the appreciation of our resident pigeon population. If the city can spend money on that, it should be fully capable of outfitting plows with snowgates, the Snowgatenistas say.
Regardless of what you think about the bird bath, the money to pay for it comes from a completely different budget and tax source than the budget that pays for snow removal. The budget that pays for snow removal also is the same budget that pays for police officers and firefighters. Thus, we would have less money for public safety.
You can look at this 20 different ways, but whether it is snowgates or birdbaths it is still taxpayer money they are spending. And how are we taking money from public safety? Kind of sounds like we are adding to it. Snowgates are a public safety issue.
The Snowgatenistas also argue that snowgates are a service that would benefit everybody. Really? Because a lot of people in central Sioux Falls don’t even have driveways. And even more live in apartments. How do snowgates benefit them?
Snowgates also have another effective use, clearing intersections. Something the Public Works department never likes to bring up, because they know they are very effective when it comes to this use. So snowgates DO benefit everyone.
If snowgates do hinder progress in clearing roads, you can bet that voters won’t blame themselves for approving the devices. They’ll blame their elected officials.
Well they are the ones responsible for making sure government services work properly, that’s why they get a paycheck compliments of us, the taxpayer.
Your city government is really messed up.
Tell me about it.
Face it DL – this is SD – and there is a significant portion of the population – nay -the MAJORITY of the population that adheres to the “conservative” rhetoric as gospel truth that anyone that receives government asssitance in any form are simply the 47%er lazy slugs leeching off the actual hard working tax-payers.
The more I read and think about this Ellis piece, I actually enjoy it all the more. A tongue in cheek dig at the city can be read into it, especially the references to the Denver Mayor. It really is a cautionary tale for the city ‘leaders’: “And a lot of voters are going to blame five of their elected officials for not voting to call a special election next spring. This could prove to be trouble for those who run for re-election.“
I know we are will be highlighting more foolishness from city hall. How can we not? Ellis’ comments are only passing on the feelings of his superiors at the City Hall, PayWall Leader, the on-air ‘talent’ at Stormland TV. When I first started to read this piece I was wondering if he was channeling Erpenbach – Diamond Jim. As I dug deeper into the pile he was building, you really can read it as a cautionary tale for the current councilors and mayor to look out. The mistake they are making to tie the 2014 election together with their reelections will likely be a huge mistake. If they are successful in finding a way to not give us the chance to vote on the snowgates, they will feel even more animosity from the voters. Either way, the group of 5 and SubPrime Mike will not like their chances for reelection.
I see the ‘retirement’ of two members of the council and the strong chance of electoral defeat of the other three incumbents.
“The Loafer Brigade of Sioux Falls suffered a defeat last week, but loafers never are defeated for long. They rise again to advocate for loafing.”
Loafing? Really Johny? You think it’s loafing? Apparently you have never lived at 3401 East 18th street. Let me tell you about it.
First, that house has the bad fortune to be on a snow route and doubly bad fortune to be directly across from a sioux Falls owned piece of property. A school. The Sioux Falls snow plows come along and move all snow from the school side of the street over to the other side, doubling the amount of snow on the residential side. Another bad thing about this address is that it is on a corner. The plows come up Olive drive dumping snow on the west side of the house and then turn east dumping all of that snow from Olive drive and ALL of east 18th street onto the driveways. Sometimes forming a ridge several feet high. A snowgate would be much appreciated at that address. Being on a snow route, you can shovel out the end of your drive multiple times in the course of a day. Try getting to work on time after the smowplownistas have deposited a nice snow barrier of heavy, wet snow at the end of the driveway at 2AM. By 6AM, it’s a frozen block of ice that resists shovels, snow blowers and ice chopping tools.
“The Snowgatenistas also argue that snowgates are a service that would benefit everybody. Really? Because a lot of people in central Sioux Falls don’t even have driveways. And even more live in apartments. How do snowgates benefit them?”
Really? Snowgates wouldn’t benefit aprtment dwellers or whatever you’re talking about in central Sioux Falls? Again, apparently you have never lived in those places. Ever try to get out of an apartment parking area? Apparently not in the fantasy world you live in. A driveway is a driveway is a driveway. There will be these disgusting snow plow deposits at the end of every driveway, including apartments.
Johny, you talk of the yahoos in Washington taking us into a fiscal abyss. I guess I don’t get your point. What do Washington yahoos have to do with snowgates?
“I’m ambivalent on the subject. Sure, I suppose they would be nice if they work as advertised, but do we really need another government service so able-bodied adults don’t have to shovel out the ends of their driveway?”
Wow! Just where DO you live Johny?
Do we need a government service to bring us water when able-bodied adults could get their own? Do we need a government service to remove sewage when able-bodied adults could get get rid their own? Do we need a government service to plow our streets when able-bodied adult taxpayers could plow them themselves?
Phooyey on you Johny!
Roger just made my point. This issue will be the rebellion point of 2014. This is going to be fun watching city hall implode.
No worries. Nobody reads the Argus anymore. The public realizes city government is their biggest advertiser and they’ve become another propaganda outlet like Channel 16. What troubles me more is citizens don’t see they no longer have a voice. They passively accept what the mayor imposes. I agree with replacing the 5 councilors. An honorable patriotic council will be important. I’ll be ridiculed but I favor reelecting Huether. There’s not enough time to catch him at public funds fraud. He’ll claim executive privilege if he’s not in office where he can be arrested and have to serve 13 years in prison.
When Home Rule is replaced with democracy, we’ll need a Saddam-like example in mind so our freedom is never again compromised. Huether is just right. We’ll have a traitor and examples of treason for Sioux Falls history.
I will be voting “YES” for snowgates………
and, “NO” for Erpenbach who represents my district (Central).
AND, yes, I have studied the 18 page report from Year One of the Snowgate Test!
I really like the apartment dweller “argument” heard in this discussion. I remember the young women apartment dweller who lost her exhaust system plowing through the ice wall going to work.
Just remember everyone one in the town will benefit from good customer / citizen service from our employees who happen to get paid by the city.
I keep imagining the number of fire hydrants that would not get plowed in if snowgates were available.
No thoughts regarding the 18-page report on the first year of snowgate testing? It took the opposite of loafing to move this important piece of information from a logical, accessible location, to burying it in a meeting from *18 months* ago!
They have the information, they just don’t like what it tells them. SouthDaCola is so right: the five voted against a 2013 election not because they lack adequate information, but because they didn’t support snowgates in the first place.
anom, why do they care about that? It is the adjacent property owners responsibility.
Yeah, most of the adjacent property owners don’t dig those things out.
My favorite are the hydrants located on city property… they rarely get cleared. I live near a park that has some hydrants on them… and if we get any amount of snow the only thing you see is the little red plastic indicator sticking out of the ridge of snow plowed on top of the hydrant.
The city claims the hydrants need to be cleared to save lives – they claim the precious time it takes to clear one during a fire could be the difference between life and death, so doesn’t it make sense to use snowgates to prevent the hydrants from being blocked in the first place?
I also have to say that I love rogerbaker’s comment about city services. Sure snowgates might be a convenience, but so is city water and sewer. It might be cheaper if the city required people to haul their own water to on-site storage tanks and required everyone to have a septic system… but they offer these services because they improve quality of life for homeowners.
Plus, if you really boil this down, snowgates are a solution to a problem the city creates. If they didn’t push the snow on to private property there would be no reason to want or need snowgates.
Craig, that is the irony of the entire snowgate debate, we have oodles of reasons why their use would be beneficial. But our Mayor (Mr. Positive himself) has chosen to point out all the negatives of snowgates. Doesn’t sound very positive to me.
CR…refresh my memory. Who ran against these 5 yahoos the last time they ran, and HOW in God’s name did they win in the first place? Must I follow the money…like most any political contest?
Poly43…..
2010 Municipal Election
Central District:
Theresa Stehly
Michelle Erpenbach
James Milne
Michael Hemmer
Southeast District:
Ryan White
Bob Christensen
Sue Aguilar
At Large (A):
Rex Rolfing
Charles Gaetze
Jesus Ramirez
Clara Hart
Clarence Kooistra
At Large (B):
James Entenman
Michael Jones
2012 Municipal Election
Northwest District:
Dean Karsky
James Ysbrand
Stehly should have beat Erpenbach, but she got the help of Hildebrand and the Democratic party to seal that deal, even though she lied in her campaign material about being from the Central District (she just had recently moved there). I also warned numerous people about Diamond Jim and his self-interests, not to mention Michael Jones being A perfect candidate for city council. But money and fame always win in the end.
So the Argus-Leader doesn’t like snowgates? What does it like other than obituaries and high school sports?
Makeup sessions with dying governors who formerly sued your ass?
Most of these councilors should really worry more about their own arteries narrowing instead of their streets.
Anom – You did know that Rolfing just had heart surgery?
No, I didn’t.
LOL!
Well, in that case, I’m sure the rest of the council will be happy to appear as instructors in the upcoming “Sioux Falls Winter 2013 How-To-Safely-Shovel-Out-Your-Driveway-And/Or-The-City’s-Fire-Hydrant” video on Citylink Channel 16.